When Diplomacy Fails presents the July Crisis Anniversary Project, a day-by-day account of the events that occurred 100 years ago.

War on Serbia.

Today is the 28th of July 2014, and on this day in history 100 years ago,

occurred the following events. As Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef signed the Declaration of War

against Serbia on this morning 100 years ago, one wonders if

he gave much thought as to how his country had arrived at this momentous decision.

It had been four weeks and two days since Serbian-linked terrorists had shot and killed

the Austrian heir and his wife in Sarajevo. The incumbent emperor had initially

greeted the news of that awful event with shock, and had then rationalised it as divine

punishment for the late Franz Ferdinand's decision to marry one of lesser birth.

The transformation of Yosef now saw the Habsburg sovereign stand in favour of war against

his state's Balkan neighbour,

which his Minister for Foreign Affairs had convinced him had to be moved against quickly,

since the ultimatum had not been satisfactorily answered, and time had passed by.

Of course, this Serb reply was now Europe's recommended reading, and many statesmen were upholding

it now as not only a masterfully crafted piece of writing, but were also claiming that it in

fact satisfied most of Vienna's demands, and that with a little tweaking it would be acceptable

to both sides without the need for war. The problem with the presentation by his Minister for Foreign Affairs and his attempts to press the sovereign towards war was the fact that,

as the Chief of Staff had so shockingly made clear, even if Austria declared war now,

it would not be able to move against Belgrade until the 12th of August.

The central problems of the Hasburg response, though incredibly, to move against Belgrade until the 12th of August.

The central problems of the Hasberg response, though incredibly they were due largely to the efforts of one man, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Leopold von Berchtald, would become so

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